President Triet celebrates Tet with overseas Vietnamese

President Nguyen Minh Triet addresses overseas Vietnamese at the programme Xuan Que Huong 2010 (Homeland Spring 2010) on Saturday in Ha Noi. — VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan

HA NOI — Viet Nam was one of the few nations to achieve high growth during the global recession due to the great efforts of the Vietnamese people, including expatriates, said President Nguyen Minh Triet last Saturday at the programme Xuan Que Huong 2010 (Homeland Spring 2010), which gathered about 1,000 overseas Vietnamese over the weekend.

Overseas Vietnamese continued to return home and contribute to the development of science,technology, education, and training, and to seek business and investment opportunities, Triet said.

Triet lauded the expatriates for their enthusiastic and active participation in charity and humanitarian programmes at home, especially their assistance for the people of central Viet Nam who have been affected by typhoons and floods.

Over the past year, new laws and policies were passed to promote communication and meet the interests of the Vietnamese abroad, he added, including an amended laws on land and homeownership and a new decree on citizenship.

In addition, a number of major events for overseas Vietnamese were held, including the first conference of overseas Vietnamese, a congress to establish an association of overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs, and a Viet Nam summer camp.

Triet vowed the Government would continue to pay attention to meeting the aspirations of expatriates before releasing red carps, a traditional practice on the 23rd day of the last month of the lunar year, associated with the kitchen god's trip to heaven to report on household events.

The programme was wrapped up by a fireworks display and a two-hour traditional music and dance extravaganza highlighting the festive spirit of Tet.

"My children were enthralled watching water puppetry and bamboo pole dances for the first time in their lives," said Pham Huy Duong, who has been living in Russia for 20 years. "Both my wife and I were moved by the familiar images of the homeland that we remember from our childhood."

Nguyen Truong Thi, an 18-year-old expatriate from New Zealand, who was experiencing Tet for the first time in his homeland, was surprised to see with his own eyes what he had been told about by his parents.

"Seeing is believing. My parents have told me about the traditional practice of buying calligraphy at the Tet holiday but this is the first time I have seen Confucian scholars using the pen brush to produce a script for me."

The expatriates also gathered at the Thang Long Royal Citadel for an ancestry-worshipping ceremony led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Thanh Son.

Nguyen Thi Thu Van, who operates a business in the US city of San Francisco, was one of 30 overseasVietnamese from 14 countries selected by the expatriate community to deliver greetings to the State leaders.

"The delegates and I were all moved by the reception of the Government," said Van. "I strongly believe that with such policies towards overseas Vietnamese, more expatriates will choose to return to contribute to their homeland."

There are an estimated 4 million Vietnamese expatriates around the world. — VNS